Crypto hackers, known for their relentless attacks on the sector, are now targeting popular brands and celebrities on social media to lure unsuspecting victims. In a recent hack, McDonald's Instagram account was compromised to promote a scam memecoin called “Grimace.” With a significant following of 5.1 million, the fast food giant often shares promotional content on the platform. McDonald's has since regained control of its account.
Following the attack on August 21, hackers changed McDonald's Instagram bio, claiming they had stolen $700,000 (approximately Rs 5.8 crore) through the scam, causing alarm among the brand's 5.1 million followers.
This is exactly what happened
Blockchain analytics company Bubblemaps tweeted that whoever hacked the account owned 75 percent of Grimace's supply through Solana's meme-dissemination service pump.fun.
“Hacker used multiple addresses to buy (Grimace) on Pumpfun at the same time and then spread it to ~100 addresses. Sold for $700,000 (approx. Rs. 5.8 crore),” Bubblemaps said.
Screenshots of a hacked McDonald's Instagram account have surfaced on X. They show the hackers misinforming the account's followers that the Grimace scam memecoin was McDonald's experiment on the Solana blockchain, promising Grimace memecoin holders a follow to their accounts. Within 30 minutes of these messages being posted, Grimace's market cap had risen to $25 million (roughly Rs. 20.9 crore), DexScreener data reflected.
According to McDonald's Instagram bio, which was altered by the hacker, users were “pulled out of control” by “India_X_kr3w.” “Thanks for the $700,000 in Solana,” the hacker noted.
McDonald's cheated out of $700,000
McDonald's Instagram page was allegedly hacked by someone going by the name India_X_kr3w. They hacked the page and posted the ca of a memecoin called grimace, which caused its mc to grow from 30k to over 15m, and they also posted a telegram link with the song Blue Bentley pic.twitter.com/utrvRt8GUr
— Paris (@ParisWifCrypto) August 21, 2024
Someone hacked McDonalds Instagram and leaked some tokens on the Solana blockchain. Be careful, it's a scam.
However, it is also a signal that we are very, very close. pic.twitter.com/KqJVeiIpBR— Marcin Jelec (@MarcinJelec) August 21, 2024
While some X users speculate that the attacker may be Indian based on the hacker's name and the Indian flag emoji left in the hacked bio, no one from India has claimed responsibility for the hack. So it is currently unclear whether the hacker is actually affiliated with India.
What happened next
McDonald's managed to recover its account after the hack. All posts related to the Grimace memecoin and the edited bio were deleted. According to DexScreener, the price of Grimace has dropped to $0.0003752 (approximately Rs. 0.031) since the hack.
Recent report Web3 bug bounty platform Immunefi said that cryptocurrency scams increased by 91 percent in Q2 2024 — from April to June — compared to Q2 2023. The report said that the crypto industry lost $509 million (approximately Rs. 4,261 crore) due to fraud and scams in Q2 2024.